From DE 196 05 999 A1 a contact arrangement between a flat antenna conductor structure embedded in or printed on a window of a vehicle, usually the windshield or rear window, and the signal processing structure, for example, an antenna amplifier, is known. In this system, below a part of the vehicle body, for example, the roof of the vehicle, electrical circuitry in a housing can be mounted. That circuitry can be or can include an antenna amplifier and the housing containing it is attached to the vehicle body by appropriate fastening means.
The housing for the circuitry, in this construction, has a support (outrigger arm) at an end of which a contact arrangement is provided. This contact arrangement is connected by conductors in the arm or rigid carrier with the signal processing unit within the housing.
Via the contact arrangement, contact is made with contact surfaces, for example pads, of the antenna conductor structure which can be provided on the windshield or rear window of the vehicle. The elongated carrier makes it possible for the antenna conductor structure to be connected to the signal processor unit with a certain spacing between them. Because the housing and circuit unit and the antenna conductor structures are spaced apart, the assembly requires large tolerances in manufacture to be certain that the housing can be mounted at an appropriate place and the contacts of the contact arrangement can nevertheless engage the pad of the antenna conductor structure. It is not always possible to be able to observe large tolerances in practice. Furthermore, since there is a fixed distance between the contact arrangement and the circuitry, with this embodiment various housing configurations with different lengths and geometries of the outrigger arm are required for different vehicle body constructions.
A further drawback of this construction is that the entire signal processing unit with the carrier and the contact arrangement at the end thereof must be replaced completely should it be damaged in a crash. This is an expensive procedure, especially since the signal processing unit as a rule is integrated between the outer roof member of the vehicle body and the interior ceiling structure of the vehicle and thus is difficult to access.